Union Leader Andy Stern Calls Out Obama On Health Care

[democracy1st]

A top labor leader urged Congress and the White House on Wednesday to make major improvements to the Senate health care legislation, suggesting that the labor community could not support the current incarnation.

"I believe this is the moment when we must stand as one and say enough," Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern wrote in a letter to his fellow members.

While he stopped short of formally opposing the bill that is making its way through the Senate, he did express outrage over the concessions made to Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.). "The public option is declared impossible. Americans cannot purchase Medicare at an earlier age. The health insurance reform effort we have needed for a century is at risk," Stern wrote.

And in a significant change of tone, Stern -- who has visited the White House more than any other labor official -- called out President Barack Obama for moving away from the promises of his campaign.

President Obama must remember his own words from the campaign. His call of "Yes We Can" was not just to us, not just to the millions of people who voted for him, but to himself. We all stood shoulder to shoulder with the President during his hard fought campaign. And, we will continue to stand with him but he must fight for the reform we all know is possible.
Our challenge to you, to the President, to the Senate and to the House of Representatives is to fight. Now, more than ever, all of us must stand up, remember what health insurance reform is all about, and fight like hell to deliver real and meaningful reform to the American people.

The letter is a reflection of some of the tensions in the union community. Union officials, while privately angry with the White House and Democrats in Congress, still need the support of these lawmakers on other legislative priorities. Meanwhile, having poured millions into advertisement and man-hours in order to get health care passed, they have watched in horror as the principles they worked for were abandoned in a matter of days.

Officials are also aware of how much would be lost by simply scrapping the bill altogether. Stern noted that under the Senate's bill 30 million additional people would be covered, pre-existing conditions would no longer be an excuse to deny coverage, and people who get sick would no longer lose their insurance.

But they also feel that a better bill can and does exists (currently in the House) and hope that, in the final weeks, the Democratic caucus will stop being led by its few conservative members.

"SEIU does not accept that this monumental effort -- that this reform that is so necessary to the health and wellbeing of our economy, our families and our future -- can be over without a fight. A fight to make it work for you and your families," Stern wrote.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/17/seiu-urges-changes-in-sen_n_395411.html

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. The House bill is better. The Senate is a snake pit.

[flyarm]

2. ahhh watch out Mr Stern..you will be called a "hater" here on DU..and get thrown under the bus!! eom

[fascisthunter]

3. Obama isn't being led by conservatives

he is one, and never intended on listening or doing what we wanted him to do. He was working for Wall Street all along. Snap out of it already...

[Mari333]

4. Rahm Emmanuel is Obama's brain now

He is the man behind the curtain in a lot of this.

I just read today that he is on vacation in India for the holidays.

I doubt the WH cares about what any of us think at this point.

nor have they ever cared.

[freddie mertz]

5. SEIU were big time Obama backers.

And they too have been betrayed.

[Brickbat]

6. Labor must do more than this.

It must organize and take action. So many times we have endorsed someone who doesn't stand for us, hoping we can "bring them around" or "point them in the right direction," and we get screwed again and again and again. We MUST without our endorsements, manpower and money until we get candidates that truly represent us.

[Kansas Wyatt]

7. The do not need to fuck up Health Care Reform...

To get what very little they are getting out of this SHIT Bill.

They could write and enact laws expanding Medicaid, prohibiting pre-existing denials, and banning insurance companies from kicking off sick people NOW, without ruining Health Care Reform.

[WeCanWorkItOut]

8. SEIU seems quite naive about these bills--and the pain they'll cause

Even if they go through, we'll still have serious insurance inflation.
The drugs will still cost too much.
State taxes will have to go up.
Many will be hurt by the mandates.
The seniors will be hurt by Medicare cutbacks.

And here's SEIU telling us that under the new bill
if you have an aggressive cancer and the drugs for it are
extraordinarily expensive, the insurance company won't say no.
Maybe not exactly. But depending on the co-pays,
the HMO, the government policy, etc. you could be forced
to do without anyway.

We'd be better off allowing the importation of drugs.
And doing more about prevention, not just screenings.
And doing more to reduce medical monopoly power.
But somehow the SEIU has never heard of that side of the problem.